Asking Her Out
by jandjsalmon
Summary: Asking a girl out on a Hogsmeade Weekend is more work than you'd think. seegrim/jandjsalmon colab. Written mid-2009 as the first part of a multi-part AU Hogwarts Era arc we abandoned. Zach Smith/Signe Fawcett


**Title:** Asking Her Out by jandjsalmon and seegrim  
**Character Pairing:** Zacharias Smith/Signe Fawcett  
**Rating:** PG  
**Summary:** Asking a girl out on a Hogsmeade Weekend is more work than you'd think.  
**Authors' Notes:** NEW FIC! Well, not really new. It was written mid 2009 but it's never been read before. It is the first part of a multi-part AU Hogwarts Era arc that Celeste and I started writing two and a half years ago. We managed to get through about 3/4 of the next part - and maybe sometime in the future I'll post our unfinished work too.

Asking Her Out

It was the nearing the end of Zach's fifth year, and studying for the O.W.L.s had taken over all of his conscious thought -except for one little ray of sunshine in his otherwise dreary schedule- Signe Fawcett. Signe was the same year, same house and, luckily for him, she kept the same study hours in the library.

And so currently, while he was supposed to be reviewing the steps necessary to transfigure an inanimate object into a living and breathing one, he was staring over his book at the pretty blonde at the next table. She sat, her attention seemingly riveted on the book in front of her, chewing absently on the end of a sugar quill, and Zach was quite certain he'd never wanted anything as much as to be that particular piece of candy at that moment.

Sig sat rereading the same line in _Defensive Magical Theory_ by Wilbert Slinkhard for what had to be the twentieth time, trying hard to pretend that she didn't notice that Zacharias Smith been staring at her for the last forty-five minutes. Zacharias Smith, who had suddenly decided to pay attention to her after all these years. They were in the same year and even the same house and he'd never shown any interest before, well in more than borrowing Charms notes anyway. What he didn't know was that Signe had taken his obvious obliviousness as a personal challenge.

Deciding to have some fun with her grand plot, especially since she had grown tired with Stebbins a few months earlier and had run out of things to do if you didn't count revising, Signe stood, took off her long black robe and flipped it over her arm, revealing her fairly low-cut black leotard that she'd been wearing since dance practise right after classes. She packed away her things slowly, almost relishing in the look on his face when she looked right at him and asked him and whether he'd enjoyed the show.

He'd simply smiled and answered he'd especially liked the ending with the big reveal and looked forward to a repeat performance sometime soon. And then he'd scooped up his books, tossed them in his bag, and asked if he could walk her back to the common room. She hadn't so much as said yes as not told him to sod off, so he'd walked alongside her, trying to chat her up about anything and everything he could think of. He smiled charmingly at her when she excused herself when they finally returned to Huffflepuff, and he thought that maybe, just maybe, that the next time he saw her in the library, he'd join her.

True to his decision, several days later he found Signe studying again in the library, and instead of picking the table next to hers, he walked up to her and set his bag down on the edge of the table. "Can I join you?"

Signe grinned and moved her ruck sack to the floor to give him the seat beside her. "Feel free, though I can't promise as entertaining a floor-show as last time." She flashed her school robes to reveal her plain ordinary school jumper over top her plain ordinary pleated skirt and knee socks that didn't quite reach her bare knees. "No dance class today, you see."

What Signe didn't understand was that seeing the three inches of bare skin above her knees was just as nice as seeing her chest, and he tried not to leer while answering, "You'll get no complaints from me." He pulled out his charms book and a parchment and got down to work, surprised at how comfortable sitting next to Signe was, how he could actually concentrate a touch better, without having to stare at her from a table over.

But then she shifted in her seat a little, running a hand through her hair which she'd left down today, all shimmery and golden in the afternoon sun, and he'd smelled something fabulous, he could have sworn there was a touch of lemon and apple blossoms to it, and he stilled his quill and closed his eyes for a moment, lazily indulging in it. Telling himself he really needed to pull himself together and stop _sniffing_ her, he opened his eyes to find her looking at him with a crooked smile on her face.

"You all right, Zacharias?" she asked, knowing full well what was going through his mind at the moment and relishing in the fact that it was _her_ that seemed to make him act more ridiculous than usual. Well, and it didn't hurt that the more he watched her, the more she liked that he did.

Signe wasn't usually the type of girl who ever had to consciously do anything to attract a boy's attention. Boys just flocked to her, and when she tired of them they left very appreciative of the things she learnt with whichever boy she'd given her attention to before them. Not that she was a tramp or anything but more like a... _tease_, she reasoned with herself. She'd promised her mother she'd behave herself, and with the blokes she normally snogged, that was an easy promise, even with them falling all over her. But Zach? Well, _he_ was different. Signe had had to work very hard over the last three months to get Zacharias Smith to notice her and once he did, to finally _do_ something about it.

Zach nodded, his eyes darting back up to hers which were shining with amusement. "I think I know how I could be a lot better though," he said, not stumbling over the words too badly. He'd waited long enough to ask her, and he knew if he wasted anymore time, some other guy would come along and scoop her up.

"Do you now?" she asked, her amused tone belying her anxiousness.

"If you went to Hogsmeade with me this weekend, I'm quite certain I'd be the luckiest boy at Hogwarts. I can't think of anything better than that." He looked at her, trying not to let his insecurity show on his face and at the same time trying not to look over confident while waiting for her answer.

Signe grinned and nodded. It filled her with an odd sort of pleasure that someone _she_ wanted seemed to want her back. He hadn't just pushed her back on the desk and started to snog her either, which if she was honest with herself seemed to be the kind of attention she got most of the time. "I was wondering when you were going to ask me. I'd love to go to Hogsmede with you, Zach."

His smile grew to match her own. "Been wondering, have you?" He poked her softly in the side, letting his finger rest there for just a moment longer than necessary. "You could have always asked me, you know." He didn't bother mentioning, however, that he didn't normally like girls who chased him, although Signe would have been the exception.

"I could have," she said with a wry smile, "but then I wouldn't have had as much fun wearing my leotard in the library and digging out the shortest skirt I own."

Zach bit his lip, his gaze swiftly averted to the expanse of skin between her knee socks and her skirt. "I like the games you play, Siggy." He leaned forward in his chair and stole a quick kiss, wary of getting caught, or worse, slapped. "I look forward to more of them."

She crinkled her nose at the _horrible_ nickname but kissed him back and afterwards gave him a crooked grin and slid her hand into his just the same. "Well, good then. Me too."

Her hand was soft and warm in his and he squeezed it slightly before winking at her and turning back to his charms assignment, wondering how he was going to wait patiently until the weekend trip to Hogsmeade and a chance to snog Signe Fawcett.


End file.
